Quoting OA260 (Thread starter):It seems this is not going away anytime soon. I wonder how long before M&S and Sainsburys are effected. I actually was in IKEA last week and had them. No side effects so far

I had IKEA meatballs last week also. I can feel my teeth growing now ...

IKEA does meatballs? It beggars belief that no one caught on earlier, once you saw the horse leg in the plastic baggie and then went through the instructions on assembling your meatball. I guess Europeans have been eating Seabiscuit for so long they can't tell the difference between a real filet and Kentucky Meatballs anymore.

Honestly, I don't get the fuss. I understand the premise of advertising as beef/pork and using horse, but why the outrage? False advertising (in the name of money-saving) happens all over the world. Horse meat is delicious (one of my favorites) and other than its taboo nature in many countries, I'm certainly not going to stop eating Ikea meatballs (or Burger King in England).

I understood that the biggest fuss is that the horsemeat comes from unregulated animals, allowing all sorts of drugs not allowed into the human food chain to be consumed, not to mention the possible diseases present in the carcasses.

What is the scrap value of a horse? I would imagine it is fairly low so when the slaughter house mixes the meat up with pork or beef he can make a excellent profit. I can see why crooked butchers would be all over this scam. It reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Fat Tony gets the school milk concession and uses rat milk.

I doubt it bother me either. I'd give it try if I saw it on a menu. I had caribou a few years ago. I never had it, saw it on a menu and tried it. I liked it too. I am sure I've eaten all kinds of stuff I didn't know about.

Quoting AeroWesty (Reply 8):I understood that the biggest fuss is that the horsemeat comes from unregulated animals, allowing all sorts of drugs not allowed into the human food chain to be consumed, not to mention the possible diseases present in the carcasses.

Then just allow it a regulate it. Problem solved regarding the "horsemeat outrage". Of course it does not solve the issue of unregulated sources entering the food chain but in truth that is another issue entirely.

Tugg
(Edited to add "not" after does. I noticed it after zckls04's post but he interpreted my post correctly.)

[Edited 2013-02-25 09:20:35]

I don’t know that I am unafraid to be myself, but it is hard to be somebody else. -W. Shatner

Quoting tugger (Reply 14):Then just allow it a regulate it. Problem solved regarding the "horsemeat outrage". Of course it does solve the issue of unregulated sources entering the food chain but in truth that is another issue entirely.

Tugg

Indeed. There could be tons of unregulated cows in all these products, but DNA testing wouldn't have revealed them.

Unless prices for supermarket burgers shoot up after this fiasco is done, you can probably assume there's still tons of unregulated meat in them. You simply can't make 16 burgers for 99p without cutting corners.

If you're not sure whether to use a piece of punctuation, it's best not to.

It's also called the EU. Free movement of goods means just that, so killed in Romania, exported to France, minced in Luxemburg, cheese added in Holland, packaged in Ireland, sold in the UK is entirely possible and legal. (The chain is legal, not labelling horse meat as beef I mean!)

To no one will we sell, or deny, or delay, right or justice - Magna Carta, 1215

I honestly don't see the problem with eating the meat, but I'm sure sales would take a bit of a hit if the "meatballs" were more accurately labeled as "horse-balls".

I personally have no interest in eating the stuff. For some reason I just see certain animals in this world as having earned the right, through either a millennia of dedication to mankind (e.g. horses and dogs) or sheer intelligence (whales and dolphins), not to be eaten by us.

That's a hell of a plight for those Romanian horses to have gone from a brutal existence towing wagons to being summarily butchered to end up in IKEA as something they never were...BEEF! Think of that final injustice, the complete lack of recognition and respect for what was no doubt a lifetime of hard knocks.

Quoting wingman (Reply 19):For some reason I just see certain animals in this world as having earned the right, through either a millennia of dedication to mankind (e.g. horses and dogs) or sheer intelligence (whales and dolphins), not to be eaten by us.

Also, cat meat should be banned because you just don't eat your superiors.

Oh, but if these are Romanian horses, don't worry, they haven't eaten chemicals in their lives. No one has the money to fatten a horse by giving it hormones or what not. It's not like in the USA.

Quoting falstaff (Reply 20):16 for 99p??? Either those are some small burgers or some really low quality beef. There is dump (but great) diner near me that sells 6 burgers for $5 and they aren't very big.

Actually I made a mistake on that- it's only 8 burgers. So they are 12 and a half pence each. Still terrifyingly cheap.

If you're not sure whether to use a piece of punctuation, it's best not to.

25 rwessel
: Two problems: labeling, and the Europeans are rather stricter about that sort of thing than the U.S. is. And second, the horses in question are mostl

26 Aesma
: Well it's allowed and regulated. In fact horse meat has seen a boom since the beginning of the scandal here, horse butchers are very happy. You forgo

27 dc9northwest
: I wouldn't trust the news too much... What I can say is that the Romanian press says this is a 6 year old law that's selectively enforced at best (Ro

28 TheCommodore
: Yeah right ! Suspicious brown balls in plastic packets, produced by a furniture maker, who uses cheap labor to produce its goods. Very credible. Woul

29 srbmod
: I hear the Corleone family has some experience in that, just ask Jack Woltz..... Needs some umlauts..... Sëkrität

30 Doona
: Swedish meatballs generally contain both beef and pork, but we don't call them "cowandpigballs". "Meatballs" is still perfectly suitable, no matter w

31 Stabilator
: Are we talking about the IKEA that sells incredibly frustrating furniture here in the states? I was unaware of them hawking horseballs??

32 zippyjet
: Another reason why Ikea uses those strange hard to spell and pronounce Sweedish names for their goods both edible and the furniture. Isn't anything sa

33 AeroWesty
: Yeppers. Both in the restaurant and frozen in the food hall by the exit. Don't forget the lingonberry preserves to go with 'em!

34 Quokkas
: There's the rub. It is one thing to pass a regulation. It's quite another to enforce it. In every country that you go to you here business whining ab

35 dragon-wings
: When did Ikea start selling food?? I had no idea Ikea sold food. I haven't been to Ikea in years and the last time I was there it was just furniture.

36 ltbewr
: Apparently this isn't a problem with the IKEA meatballs or any meat produce in the USA as horse butchering is very strictly limited here. In fact most

37 Aesma
: The main problems isn't regulations it's the fact that it makes economic sense to have 5 or more intermediaries from the animal to the finished produc

38 CXfirst
: Ikea is famous for its meatballs! One doesn't go there without getting a meatball lunch. I'm actually having IKEA meatballs for dinner today, granted

39 L-188
: Dragon wings. Swedish Meatballs are to IKEA as Hot Dogs are to COSTCO.

40 OA260
: Hopefully the meatballs will be back again GBP£20 for all this ! Bargain

41 zippyjet
: Not all but many of these inspectors do it the government way, less i And of course they got one of those funny (at least to me sounding names) like

42 Revelation
: Somehow I read this as "Ikea's Balls Withdrawn Over Horsemeat Fears"! Ah, that's why the long face!

43 ikramerica
: Well in the us, even though they haven't found the horse, I have noticed they altered the texture of the meatballs so they are much finer, much easier

44 TheCommodore
: I think I'd rather eat pure horse meat, than manufactured meatballs of dubious origin ! Have a look at the nutritional value of these things A whoppi

45 Superfly
: I was horsing around the new Ikea here in Bangkok last week and I ate one of these meatballs. It left my voice a little horse but I'm in stable condit